Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Second Chance ❯ Watching you die inside ( Chapter 6 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Chapter 6: Watching you die inside

“58...59...60…”

Seifer was inside his room doing pushups that evening. He wanted to keep his mind busy as much as possible, it seemed that the message Ultimecia said in his dream was really true. He just couldn't take her out of her mind, she was always there reminding him who he had been in the past. He decided he had done enough pushups already so he lay down on his back starring at the ceiling.

Another reason why he wanted to keep his mind busy was Danielle. She had become a lot more distant from everybody, yet she still was the center of conversations along the place.

“Did you heard the lately news? The Sorceress's Dame has a boyfriend!”

“You're kidding me!”

“Vandom had been telling the whole Garden about it. I didn't believe it until I saw them kissing in the hall”

Yeah, he had seen them together. But he noticed Danielle seemed to be scared of him. Whenever he got closer to her, it was as if she wanted to scream and ran away from him, it was obvious she didn't like at all his company. The question was why she stayed with him.

//What does he sees on her anyway? She acts like a baby, she's rude, intelligent, strong and cute and she has such beautiful eyes…//

Seifer slapped his forehead as hard as his hand would permit it to stop his mind from thinking about her. Fine, he couldn't deny Danielle was actually pretty, but that didn't meant he was jealous of Vandom for being able to be close to her as he wanted to be. Oh no, he could take care of her.

He sighed. Who was he trying to fool, he actually felt worried of the girl's attitude with the guy. Seifer had noticed it since the day he had actually had asked her about Vandom, he sense the nervousness in her voice and the fear in her eyes, even thought when she tried to hide them. In a certain way, Danielle seemed to be a bit like Squall, but her shells weren't as strong as Squall's. Deciding it had been enough thinking, Seifer opted to make his usual visits to the Training Center to keep himself busy.

Sixteen Grats and three T-Rexaurs later, a sweated and tired Seifer sat where no creature should attacked him to rest a bit. He had used all his strength to fight the 19 creatures he had defeated. It wasn't that late, but he decided to go back to his room, take a shower and get something for dinner at the cafeteria.

Danielle was studying the moment Seifer arrived to the dorm. She was so concentrated she didn't notice his presence until the moment she felt a pinch in the back of her neck.

“Yaow!” she cried when she felt the pressure on her neck making her jump. She then heard Seifer's laughter knowing it had been because of her reaction. He had actually mentioned once he liked to hear the very funny noises she made when unexpected things happened to her.

“Asshole” she muttered starring at him menacingly as she rubbed the back of her neck

“Hello to you too, sweetie” he smiled making her roll her eyes. That was another thing he said to bother her, it come out one day and she seemed to get really mad not only at the real corny word, but also at the real heavy sarcasm he applied on it. It was like when he called Zell Chicken-wuss.

“You know, I have a name”

“I know its Danielle, sweetie” he replied, chuckling at Danielle's angry look. He was almost sure that if she could shoot bullets, he should already be dead more than a thousands times. He then walked into his room.

Danielle had gone back to her study and she didn't notice that Seifer had actually moved until she felt a pair of hands on her shoulders.

“Almasy, you better stop your ridiculous games-”

“Wrong guess, baby” she heard and felt she was turning white. She looked over her shoulder and saw that effectively, it was Vandom.

Seifer had actually heard Danielle and was about to reply but Vandom spoke first. He then realized he hadn't closed he main door. There was a very big silence and decided he didn't want to be there. So, he took his clothes and towel and headed out of the room, passing the couple.

“Careful with burning those brains, sweetie” he said before he left, Danielle's eyes pleading him not to leave her alone with Vandom didn't passed unperceived.

As the water run down his body, Seifer thought about that look. They were actually screaming at him not to leave, and actually, Vandom eyes said the total opposite, to get the hell out of there. He felt he should have stayed, it wasn't the fact that they would be fooling around, but the fear he could sense of Danielle. What kind of girl would act in such way with her boyfriend by her side? It was very strange, but she didn't even want to talk about it.

Going back to Vandom, Seifer wondered why he didn't do something to stop all the rumors about Danielle. He was supposed to be her boyfriend, shouldn't he defend her? Maybe Danielle would act differently around people if he took the task in hands. Maybe that was the reason she felt nervous about it, she was afraid new rumors will flow of their relationship.

The guy didn't seem to care about what they say about her. Well, how kind of him of not believing such things, but it was actually destroying Danielle, and if he didn't noticed it, he was a complete idiot. He didn't care to tell such thing of him, Vandom didn't even like Seifer at all; his attitude demonstrated such thing. Maybe he didn't like the idea that his girl was being related with him.

Oh yes, everybody related Seifer and Danielle, calling them Knight and Dame. Well, others called her whore, show-off and tomb-boy… but Danielle probably ignored such things. He actually had never heard her complaining about being called in such ways; or she just didn't give it a damn. And none of her instructors seem to know what was happening.

He wondered who had started all this and why. It could probably be a revenge for belonging in the Galbadian army, because from what he knew, the soldiers that had been once part of it weren't very welcome after what they have done in the war.

Seifer arrived hours later to his dorm after his shower and dinner. He felt thankful that Quistis hadn't told the others what had happened the day he had that dream of Ultimecia. In that moment he realized that even after all the things he had put them through, they had been able to forgive him. He felt the need to tell them about what was going on with Danielle, but since he wasn't really sure how things started and why, he preferred to keep shut.

Seifer entered the dorm and found Danielle with her face buried on her arms. She looked so broken, she probably had been for hours like that; he could even feel the sadness that flow from her. Different than the other time, Danielle did notice the moment Seifer came in and she shifted her gaze towards him when she heard him.

“Told you not to burn your brains, sweetie” he mocked. He just couldn't shut up, could he?

“Fuck off” she said with gritted teeth as if she didn't want him to noticed her voice was about to break. Well, it didn't work because he did notice.

“Aw, it's the baby mad? Does she want her mommy?” he teased. He was more than sure that the routine wouldn't fail; Danielle would get up and lock up in her room. But this time, it was a really unexpected answer.

“I'm not a baby, Almasy!! Why don't you call me something else?! How about calling me Sorceress's Dame?! Why don't you call me show-off, tomb-boy?! How about whore?! Call me freak like the rest of the people in this totally fucked up hell call me!!”

She wanted to tell him something else, but she couldn't think of what as she tried her best to contain her tears. She was somehow proud; she had always hated to cry in front of others. Knowing she was loosing the fight, she dashed to her room and slammed the door so hard Seifer was sure he could have done deaf if it had been slammed harder.

He stood there totally surprised. Danielle had always acted somehow submissive that this reaction was totally new for him. Now he realized that not only she knew what they called her, but that she did care for it. It did hurt her.

Seifer got in his room and heard her crying. She tried to keep it down as possible, but she couldn't, Seifer could perfectly hear her. The walls had always been like curtains too, so it was easy to know what was happening next door. He did felt sorry for her; she really didn't deserve such treatment.

Danielle was really alone. It didn't matter if she had a boyfriend, if she talked with some girls; there was no one for her. Seifer suddenly felt really lucky to have his childhood friends, he couldn't have been to survive by his own if they hadn't been there to support him. Than included Zell, who even with all the teasing Seifer gave him, he hadn't turned his back on him. Seifer didn't bother the tattooed blond because he hated him; it was just his way of being.

As he still heard her crying, he felt the need to apologize. Forget his bad guy reputation; he just wanted to tell her he was sorry for saying such. He wanted Danielle to stop crying, he wanted to stop all that talking about her.

Living didn't have a sense for her anymore. It was just to breathe; she was dying inside… and even when he couldn't believe why he felt it, Seifer didn't know how to safe her.

A week passed after that incident. Danielle was at Balamb beach that night. She sat in the sand feeling really tired; probably she was just depressed. She had been thinking all the time of what she had heard that day hours ago.

Her classes had ended earlier that day so she went to her dorm. However, before she came inside, she heard Seifer speaking with the commander.

“Are you serious? I'm moving out?” said the blond

“Most of the instructors have report you two can work perfectly as a team, so the Headmaster finally decided to separate you two. However, you shall be the one moving out since there's no room for Danielle in the women's dorms, so it was decided that you moved to a another dorm and she'll stay here. The two guys that used that dorm resign of the training at the end and went home. You can move tonight if you want to”

Danielle felt a lump in her throat the moment she heard this. She knew it was going to happen anyways, but she felt it too soon. When she had meant to avoid Seifer, she had never meant really this. She started to run and before she knew it, she had reached the beach.

She sighed at the same time she felt the need to cry, for some reason, she hadn't been able to. She could feel her eyes stinging at such demand of her heart, but no tears came from her eyes. It was as if she had dried up since that day…

She still couldn't believe she actually screamed to Seifer, she had really acted like a baby. In the past days she tried to find the courage to apologize. It wasn't Seifer's fault her life had been fucked up since the very beginning; he wasn't the responsible of her misery.

Danielle in that moment got in her feet and look at the now sleeping town of Balamb. She could probably sneak in a train that would take her back to Deling City and she would then find her way to get to Edea's house. But the most probable thing is that she would send her back.

It was already past the curfew when Danielle walked back to Garden and to her dorm. She knew she could get if trouble if she was caught, but she didn't care about; nothing mattered anymore for her.

She opened the door of her dorm, which was in total darkness. Effectively, Seifer was gone. She felt a lump in her throat and bit her lower lip as she got into her own room. Danielle didn't even matter she was still wearing her clothes when she lay down on her bed. //I should already be used to this…// was the last she thought.

Seifer was rolling in his bed like crazy. //Why the fuck am I so worried for her?// he kept thinking. While he was moving of dorm, Danielle never showed up, even thought he knew classes were over. When he finished moving out, he actually looked for her around the Garden, but he never found her and there was no way he would go and ask her boyfriend.

He looked at the clock that rested in the nightstand. It was already past midnight. She had to be back on her dorm already; he hoped so.

//You're getting weak, Seifer// he repressed himself as he got out of bed. Dressed with a pair of pants and trainers, Seifer walked out of his own dorm and went to Danielle's. //Where can she be, then?// he kept thinking as he almost ran back to his previous room, trying to find the possibilities of where she could be in case she wasn't there.

Seifer typed the keys of the pad like ten times before he could introduce the right code that will open the door for him. Once he was able to get inside, he noticed the room was just like he had left it; but the then noticed that the door of the girl's room was open.

He felt an immense relief when he saw her figure resting in the bed. Almost instinctively like in the first time, Seifer approached to her and stroked her cheek. She seemed to lean in the touch and suddenly one of her hands held his in place.

“Stay with me…” she mumbled. He felt really bad for her, maybe only in dreams she could be in peace. For the first time, he could actually perceive how her soul was screaming for love, for someone that could hold her, for someone that would never leave her.

Seifer want back to his room and fall asleep almost immediately as soon as he got into bed.